Restoration and Enlightenment

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Restoration and Enlightenment

• (1660-1798)
• What does restoration mean?
• The act of reintroducing, reviving, or bringing
  back something.
• Restoration here refers to the return of the
  monarchy (sole absolute ruler, usually for life
  and by hereditary right), which in turn signaled
  a return to social and political stability.

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History

• Oliver Cromwell Roundhead 1599-1658
  Puritan note Puritans were a group of English
  Protestants, felt Church of England too closely
  associated with Catholic Church in many ways
• Under Cromwell, the Royalists were defeated and
  Charles I was executed (1649).

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History

• The son of Charles I, Charles II, is exiled to
  France.
• The monarchy is abolished and a republic
  established.
• What is a monarchy?
• form of government in which supreme authority is
  vested in a single and usually hereditary figure,
  such as a king, and whose powers can vary from
  those of an absolute despot to those of a
  figurehead

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History

• What is a republic?form of government in which
  the people or their elected representatives
  possess the supreme power

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History

• What is a democracy?
• political or social unit governed ultimately by
  all its members

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History

• What form of government does the United States
  have?
• It is a true republic that practices a form of
  democracy.
• In the United Kingdom, people vote for
  representatives in Parliament, the countrys
  lawmaking body), but they also have a monarch as
  a figurehead.

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History back to Cromwell

• Cromwell, and after his death, his son, leads the
  Commonwealth of England (1649-1660).
• Oliver Cromwell invades Ireland (1649-1650) and
  Scotland (1650-1651)

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Restoration

• In 1660, a new Parliament invited Charles II to
  return from exile in France and assume the throne
• Milton arrested for his propaganda writings,
  Andrew Marvell used his political status to free
  Milton and quite possible saved his life
• On January 30, 1661, after the Royalists had
  returned to power, Cromwells corpse (he died in
  1658) was
• what strange thing supposedly happened to his
  body?

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• Anglicanism returns as state religion
  (previously under Cromwell, it was Protestant)
• Charles II dies (1668) - has no legitimate heirs
• Who takes the throne?
• His Catholic brother, James II (1685-1688)
• 1688 - Glorious Revolution
• Also known as?
• Bloodless Revolution
• This campaign began because the Whigs in
  Parliament wanted to replace James II

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• James II has a Catholic son, James Francis Edward
  The Pretender but the Whigs are not
  supportive of the Catholics
• So, who takes the throne?
• James IIs Protestant daughter, Mary, and
• her husband, William, take the throne
• 1707 Scotland unites with England and Wales as
  Great Britain

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Enlightenment

• What does enlightenment mean?
• The act of educating, informing, or bringing
  knowledge.
• Enlightenment here refers to the philosophical
  movement that emphasized the use of reason in
  ethics, government, and logic, to obtain
  objective truth about the universe.

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Philosophy

• The 17th century - a time when scientific
  advances explain things previously attributed to
  God
• Philosophy during this time concentrated on
  epistemological questions
• Epistemology study of the origin, nature,
  methods, and limits of human knowledge (asks
  what can truly be known about reality)

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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

• English political philosopher who replaced the
  idea of divine justification of political
  authority with absolute sovereignty (domination)
• For Hobbes, this was the only kind of government
  that could resolve problems caused by the
  selfishness of human beings

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Thomas Hobbes

• Human nature basically selfish
• people act on evil impulses
• people should not be trusted to make decisions
  on their own
• even with abuses of power, life under the
  absolute ruler preferable to living in chaos

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Thomas Hobbes

• state of nature condition of humanity before
  the STATEs foundation before the laws
• state of nature began to be used as a term in
  social contract theories. In this state,
  people have the natural right to do anything to
  preserve safety or liberty.

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Thomas Hobbes

• State of nature is the state of human beings
  without civil society war of every person
  against every person

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Thomas Hobbes

• Hobbes believed people would behave immorally
  towards one another
• His state of nature is solitary, poor, brutish,
  and short.

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Thomas Hobbes

• He says you need to abandon your efforts to
  satisfy your egoistic impulse and join society in
  order to achieve peace and survive

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Thomas Hobbes

• The compromise or covenant, as Hobbes calls it,
  is the agreement among people to abide by a
  certain set of rules (the laws of society) and
  submit to a sovereign

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Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• French philosopher and mathematician

Portrait of René Descartes Frans Hals, 1649oil
on panel19 14 cm National Gallery of Denmark
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Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Note Renaissance (1485-1660)
• Restoration/Enlightenment (1660-1798)
• Questions whether the whole of our experience
  may be part of a dream/imagination we are
  willing to take for granted a great deal that
  might be false or uncertain (The Matrix Men in
  Black (the locker?)

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Rene Descartes

• What Descartes determines to be true is
• - I exist (I think, therefore I am)
• - God exists and
• - God is not deceiving us.

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Rene Descartes

• Virtuous behavior depends on free will rather
  than on grace (the free and unmerited favor or
  beneficence of God)
• Free will is the sign of God in human nature. It
  concentrates on the internal authority of reason,
  not the external authority of religion
• Argues that we are born with innate ideas
  (born within us) (God)

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Cartesian Circle
Copy this ??

• The Cartesian Circle is circular reasoning used
  by Descartes to show that whatever he perceives
  clearly and distinctly is true.
• Descartes argued that his own clear and distinct
  perception was a guarantor of truth. This would
  be so because God, who cannot be a deceiver,
  would not allow Descartes to be mistaken about
  that which he clearly and distinctly perceived.
  The existence of God, however was predicated
  solely on Descartes having a clear and distinct
  perception of the thought of God, which
  necessarily required the existence of God.

• This approach is saying A is true because B is
  true, and B is true because A is true. Each
  affirms the other, but there is no outside
  affirmation (outside of the circle) of the truth
  of either A or B.

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John Locke (1632-1704)

• English philosopher, emphasizes individualism
  and religious tolerance, laying the groundwork
  for modern democracy
• human nature characterized by reason and
  tolerance (e.g. peace) (opposite of Hobbes
  self-interested cooperation)
• every branch of human knowledge--including
  religion--is based on experience and reflection
• Known as empiricism (all knowledge comes from
  sense experience)

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John Locke

• his theology is aligned with Deism a.
  belief based on reason, and rationality, and
  observation of the natural world b. no reliance
  on religious authority for confirmation of God
• c. God created the world and then abandoned it
• bases his politics on religious grounds

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John Locke

• the law of nature is a God given set of rules
  and principles of right and justice
• as opposed to Hobbes, Locke sees the normal
  state of nature as one in which people live
  together in peace and according to reason

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John Locke

• State of nature is one of peace, goodwill,
  mutual assistance, and preservation whereas
  Hobbes state of nature is one of malice,
  violence, and mutual destruction

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John Locke

• Whereas Descartes argues the idea of innateness
• Locke asks how do you know they are innate?
  What experience, what sensory observations offers
  support? Locke argues that the mind is a blank
  slate
• (Frankensteins creation)

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Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• Genevan philosopher (Republic of Geneva)
• His childhood consisted of solely reading
  Plutarchs Lives and Calvinist sermons
• (Frankensteins creation)
• Human society based on a contract between the
  government and the governed

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Human Nature

• Defined as a set of characteristics, including
  ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, that human
  beings have in common

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Jacques Rousseau

• His theory of the social contract is based on the
  assumption that humans live in a state of
  nature which is not ideal they need to enter
  into a contract with each other, allowing them to
  live in peace and harmony

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Jacques Rousseau

• Human nature is not static but evolves according
  to the sorts of civilizations that form it
• Attributed evil not to human nature but to
  society, insisting that in the natural state a
  human being was essentially good and happy a
  noble savage
• (Frankensteins creation ??)

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Jacques Rousseau

• Noble savage represents goodness and simplicity
  when not encumbered by civilzation
• (e.g. Enkidu in Epic of Gilgamesh)
• This idea of the noble savage led to the
  sentimentalized perception of Native Americans
  and Africans by British writers (Brave New World)

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• The state of nature eventually degenerates into a
  brutish condition without law or morality, at
  which point the human race must adopt
  institutions of law or perish

Laws must be made by legislative assembly
composed of all citizens who are then obliged to
obey their own laws as subjects
Need to obey that which is for the greater good
of the state, thus eroding individual rights
(e.g. airport security, USA Patriot Act)
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Directions Create this chart and fill it in to
help when studying for the Final Exam.
Hobbes Locke Rousseau Descartes
State of nature
society
Reality ------ --------